HSH Pickup Advice

[simon66]

Hi everyone,

I'm wondering if you could make some pickup suggestions for me. I have a Harley Benton Fusion-II HSH NT Roasted. And, as the name suggests, it has an HSH layout. It really is a fabulous guitar but I think some aftermarkets pickups could make it even better.

I'm looking for a neck pickup that can provide a clean sound with sustain and clarity. I would like it to have some body for a clean pseudo jazz tone. Also, it would be nice if it could be used on more dirty settings to create that smooth / creamy / bluesy lead tone that some players use. It would be nice if it could split so as to create that 70s out of phase Strat (position 4) sound with the centre pickup.

I want the centre pickup (single coil) just to use out of phase with the other two pickups. I guess something that sounds like a 70s Strat (but without the hum) would be good. Nothing too overpowered.

For the bridge pickup, I'd like something that can 'rock out' but not a heavy metal pickup. I really want to avoid pickups which are too compressed and maybe too high output. As well as higher gain lead, I want to be able to back thing of so as to use much lower gain Fusion and Blues leads without the sound breaking up. I'd like a pickup with plenty of sustain (and sensitivity to pinched harmonics), but that is also responsive to the dynamics of my playing.

P.S. I'm a big fan of Guthrie Govan if that helps.

P.P.S. Body is mahogany (with maple veneer), and the neck is roasted maple.

Any ideas?
Thanks in advance, guys.

 

[Synapsys]

Re: HSH Pickup Advice

I'd suggest a Custom Custom for the bridge, a Classic Stack for the middle, and a Alnico II Pro for the neck. Not very tech savvy, other may chime in about OOP modding and wiring.

 

[Mincer]

Re: HSH Pickup Advice

I'd suggest a Custom Custom for the bridge, a Classic Stack for the middle, and a Alnico II Pro for the neck. Not very tech savvy, other may chime in about OOP modding and wiring.

Exactly what I would have picked, and it will remain hum-cancelling. You will get a warm tone that is scientifically the same as jamming 3 sticks of butter into the guitar.

 

[simon66]

Re: HSH Pickup Advice

Thanks for the advice guys. Would these pickups still have enough top end, and do they have a moderate output.

I did try SD's Pickup Finder and it gave me these:

JB Model™
Jazz Model
59 Model™
59™ Custom Hybrid
Pearly Gates™
Seth Lover™
Alnico II Pro™ HB


Alnico II Pro™ Flat
Vintage Hot
Vintage Flat Strat
Classic Stack® Plus Strat

Then again, it seems to come up with the same suggestions no matter what I enter lol.

I have seen a few vids of the CC and it does sound pretty good to me. I'm just a bit worried that I may lose the dynamics. I recently bought a Squire Jazzmaster with active pickups and just sounds like a synthesizer.

 

[jeremy]

Re: HSH Pickup Advice

i think the aph1n, stks4n, and tb11 would be a great setup (same pups as the other guys suggested but with model numbers) if you plan on splitting the buckers with the single coil all the time in the notch positions, id get a ssl2 for the middle instead of the cs+

 

[simon66]

Re: HSH Pickup Advice

i think the aph1n, stks4n, and tb11 would be a great setup (same pups as the other guys suggested but with model numbers) if you plan on splitting the buckers with the single coil all the time in the notch positions, id get a ssl2 for the middle instead of the cs+

Thanks. It's starting to look like a good bet. My only worry is that the spec says that CC high output.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: HSH Pickup Advice

My old warhorse HSH Floydcaster has never sounded better than it does with the Parallel Axis set.
Blues Saraceno PATB-3 at the bridge, PA/STK in the middle, and PATB-1n at the neck.

The PATB-3 definitely can rock; it's PAF-like and quite dynamic, crisper and less compressed than a Custom Custom.
PATB-1n gives plenty of definition, yet it has good body too. Great clean, also a fabulous neck lead tone.
The center stack has good noise rejection and a fairly Stratlike character; works quite well for position 2 & 4.

 

[jeremy]

Re: HSH Pickup Advice

the cc isnt high output, its medium. i like the patb series too. patb3 is kinda paf like, the patb1b is medium output, patb2 is a fire breather.

 

[pskorz]

Re: HSH Pickup Advice

Not to muddy the waters, since neither are really on your radar, but for medium output pickups, two who are I think KILLER sounding pickups are the Screamin' Demon and the Full Shred. Both names might suggest real fire breathers, but they're not overly aggressive, and both are very rich sounding great pickups.

Mostly I just wanted to chime in to say what a great looker that guitar is!!!

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: HSH Pickup Advice

Yah, Demon is a very good choice for super Strat types.

 

[Demanic]

Re: HSH Pickup Advice

Just my two cents. 59 set with a QP middle.

Sent from my Alcatel_5044C using Tapatalk

 

[Teleplayer]

Re: HSH Pickup Advice

I think Duncan 59 set is worth considering, but the bridge will be fairly bright. I would not recommend the SH-11. Although its not super high output, it is very mid-focussed and sounds quite congested to me, which is kind of the opposite problem.

If you want a warmer voiced set for balanced tones, I would look at Suhr SSV (8k) neck, SSV+ (10k) bridge.

Duncan SSL-2 neck pickup will work great as a middle pickup with the Suhr, but you could also use Suhr ML middle.